Shannon Waller's Team Success Strategic Podcast Network

Are you looking to maximize your teamwork with your executive assistant? In this episode, Shannon Waller dives deep into the key strategies for a successful strategic partnership. From finding the right person to implementing daily habits and strategic planning meetings, you'll discover how to triple your productivity effortlessly and elevate your teamwork to superpower status!



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Show Notes:



* Finding The Right “Who”: It's crucial to hire someone who thrives in a support role and complements your working style. Use tools like DISC and CliftonStrengths to ensure compatibility.

* Communication Builder: This tool helps identify communication preferences and patterns, preventing conflicts and fostering better teamwork. It's available for free at yourteamsuccess.com.

* Daily Meetings: Regular check-ins, ideally daily, help keep both parties aligned and focused. Starting these meetings with a Positive Focus® elevates your energy levels, boosts productivity, and enhances confidence.

* CC On Emails: Copying your assistant on relevant emails ensures seamless information transfer and task delegation.

* Access To Email And Calendar: Granting your assistant full access to your email and calendar allows them to manage your schedule effectively, freeing you up to focus on high-priority tasks.

* Appreciation: Regularly expressing gratitude and acknowledging each other's contributions strengthens the partnership and boosts morale.

* Strategic Planning Meetings: Holding these meetings every five to six weeks helps you plan and prioritize upcoming tasks and projects, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.



Resources:



Books



Superpowered: The Secret That Helps Every Entrepreneur Eliminate the Suck, 10x Their Impact, and Have More Fun in Work and Life by Ryan Cassin, Shannon Waller, and Steven Neuner



Tools And Concepts



The Team Success Toolkit



Unique Ability®



The Impact Filter



Profiles



The Kolbe A Index



PRINT® Why of You



CliftonStrengths®



Working Genius®



DISC Profile

Do you feel as though you have a really talented team but that not everyone is aligned on the direction you’re going? In this episode, Shannon Waller describes how a lack of leadership can be undoing your team’s potential. By the end, you’ll learn practical strategies to ensure that everyone is on the same page, working toward a common goal.



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Show Notes:



Unique Ability® without a clear goal or purpose:



* Unique Ability® Teamwork thrives when each team member is focused on what they love to do best.

* However, without a clear goal, intention, or purpose, the strengths and talents of team members can go astray, or worse, sabotage the work of the overall business.

* This can lead to individuals pursuing their own interests rather than working toward a common goal.

* Over time, team members accustomed to a lack of direction may develop an entitlement attitude and resistance to being pulled back in.



Impact On Team Performance:



* Without clear leadership and direction, Unique Ability Teamwork may result in individuals contributing their intellect but not their full commitment or passion.

* Projects may suffer from delays, lack of creativity, and a lack of coordination among team members, akin to a rowing team rowing out of sync.



Solution:



* Shannon suggests a proactive approach. Leaders should:



* Double-check their own clarity on goals and intentions.

* Communicate these clearly to the team.

* Ensure alignment through open conversations.





* Using tools like The Impact Filter can help articulate purpose, importance, ideal outcomes, and success criteria, fostering a shared understanding and commitment among team members.

* The collaborative approach opens projects up to the collective intelligence, as different team members bring diverse insights and considerations to the table.



Resources:



The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller



PRINT®



Kolbe



Radical Candor



Unique Ability Teamwork



Wanting What You Want by Dan Sullivan



The Impact Filter

Ready to level up your teamwork? In this episode of Team Success, Shannon dives deep into her love for profiles and assessments like Kolbe and PRINT and how she uses them to understand team members better. She explains how profiles help build trust, provide a road map for effective teamwork, and streamline the process of getting to know team members' motivational needs and strengths. She also shares tips for how to use profiles to make the hiring process easier, faster, and better. Listen now to learn all about how to use profiles to unlock your own team’s success!



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Show Notes:



* Personality profiles and assessments are essential, reliable tools for anyone hoping to understand their own or someone else’s motivations, needs, and natural strengths.

* They provide a road map for building trust and providing effective support.

* In a fast-paced work environment where personal interactions are limited, profiles offer a shortcut to quickly gain insights about your team members—like what you can expect from them, their strengths, and their motivators—that would otherwise take significant time and effort to uncover.

* When used correctly, profiles shouldn’t box people in, but rather generate insightful questions and deepen understanding, fostering teamwork by aligning team members’ motivations and strengths with their roles and responsibilities.

* By understanding and appreciating the complementary skills of those on their team, individuals can leverage one another's strengths to produce exponential results.

* Profiles are also a valuable hiring tool, especially for roles in sales or leadership.



These profiles include:



* Kolbe A Index: Measures conative strengths or natural tendencies in problem-solving and productivity.

* Working Genius®: Identifies where individuals naturally excel in a project's lifecycle, from ideation to execution.

* CliftonStrengths®: Highlights individual talents and potential areas for development.

* DISC: Provides insights into personality traits related to work style and interactions.

* PRINT®: Reveals underlying motivators and how they influence behavior in professional settings.



Resources:



Kolbe A Index



Working Genius



CliftonStrengths



DISC Profile



PRINT

Are you struggling with a lack of alert, curious, responsive, and resourceful people in your business? Here, Shannon Waller takes a look at the frequently overlooked importance of the language you use when talking about the people operating in your business. By shifting your mindset regarding this one term, you can unlock the full potential of your team and elevate their performance. Tune in to learn how to transform your team into a powerhouse of unique individuals making impactful contributions together.



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Show Notes:



* The language you use to refer to the people you’ve hired to work with you (“staff,” “employees,” or “team members”) reflects different mindsets and can impact engagement and performance.

* The term “staff” suggests bureaucracy, formality, and viewing people as fulfilling roles rather than as unique and creative individuals.

* “Employee” is more neutral but can still imply a transactional, replaceable view of team members.

* Referring to people as “team members” emphasizes their unique contributions and the collaborative, team-based nature of the work.

* How you think about your people is reflected in your actions.



* “Staff” and “employees” are frequently counted as FTEs and costs.

* Businesses think of costs as something to minimize, to make as efficient as possible, and to be cut as necessary to improve profits.

* People who are treated as costs—like the office paper supply—can feel they’re being treated as things and not as people.





* Treating team members as investments rather than costs leads to better results.



* With investments, you put a little in to get a lot more in return.

* When you nourish unique capabilities in people, their contributions expand in ways you could not have predicted.





* When people don’t work out as investments:



* Have you made sure you’ve found the right people who are motivated by their work and aligned with your business?

* Do they have the capacity for their role?

* Keeping bad investments is not good for your business in the long term. You may need to subtract so you can multiply.





* Dan Sullivan says, “I’m just a team member here. I just have a unique set of skills, and that’s what I want to do. I need a ton of other people to make the projects that I want to be a part of happen.”

* Dan’s commitment to his own Unique Ability® contribution to the business reinforces his commitment to supporting the Unique Ability contributions of everyone else on his team.

* Ask your team how they feel about the language used to describe them. Pay attention to how you refer to people no matter whom you’re speaking with.

* People want to know they’re valued as individuals and trusted to find opportunities to contribute the best way they know how.



Resources:



Leadership and Self-Deception by The Arbinger Institute



EOS®: Entrepreneurial Operating System®



“A Conversation With Kathy Kolbe: Conative Intelligence & The Importance of Caring First,” Team Success Podcast, ep. 259.



Multiplication By Subtraction by Shannon Waller

On this special episode of Team Success, Shannon Waller is joined by her dear friend and former colleague Nicole Pitcher, a Strategy and Planning Support Partner who played a pivotal role in Shannon’s professional development and contributed to her legendary approach to teamwork. They discuss how, while working at Strategic Coach®, Nicole transformed the standard executive assistant role into a Strategic Support Partnership. They also explore how this kind of relationship leverages both parties’ strengths and keeps entrepreneurs committed and accountable to their goals. Nicole’s evolution offers invaluable insights into how shifting standard support roles into dynamic partnerships can drive entrepreneurial success. For any entrepreneur looking to not only maximize their productivity but also achieve a better work-life balance, this episode is a must-listen!



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Show Notes:



* In today's entrepreneurial world, there is a growing need for assistants who can think strategically, anticipate the needs of their employers, and manage the moving parts of a business.

* Nicole shares how she evolved the role of an executive assistant into this role, which goes beyond traditional administrative tasks to engage deeply in strategic planning and decision-making processes.

* As Shannon says, “If you don't have an assistant, you are one.”

* Most entrepreneurs have a ton of ideas but don’t necessarily have the skills or bandwidth to follow through on them.

* A good Strategic Support Partner should understand how to translate your vision into actionable tasks. They’re essentially the bridge between your ideas and the practical execution of those ideas.

* They also need to take a personalized approach to vision translation based on your unique strengths and weaknesses.

* Self-awareness is a crucial first step for entrepreneurs seeking support. By recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, you can identify areas where help is needed and find the right support partner to complement your skills, all of which leads to a more intentional approach to goal setting and commitment.

* Profiles are your best ally here. Every good working relationship should start with assessments like Kolbe and Working Genius® (linked below).

* Avoid the temptation to hire somebody who’s just like you. They don’t want to do the work that you don't want to do either!

* It’s important to view this relationship as a partnership rather than a traditional hierarchical relationship. (In other words, equal but different, not lesser and greater.)

* This approach fosters mutual respect and leverages each person's strengths.

* Many entrepreneurs also don’t know how to effectively use their assistants. They may hire someone with the expectation that the assistant will handle emails and other administrative tasks, but they struggle to provide direction and guidance.

* Entrepreneurs who make commitments, set goals, and hold themselves accountable are objectively more successful than entrepreneurs who don’t.

* Strategic Support Partners play a vital role in helping you stay on track and fulfill your commitments, ultimately leading to long-term success and growth in your business.

* It’s common for entrepreneurs to become the bottleneck in their own business when they are unable to make decisions, set priorities, or manage their time effectively. This also makes them feel trapped and overwhelmed.

* By working with a Strategic Support Partner to address time management issues (and putting everything in a calendar that you follow!), you can better focus your energy and alleviate overwhelm.

Raise your hand if you’re a perfectionist. Do you often find yourself focusing on what’s not working and feeling constantly frustrated? When your team checks in with you on a project they’re working on, do you tend to focus on the parts that need to be fixed? The parts that aren’t completed yet? “What about X, Y, and Z?”



In this episode of Team Success, Shannon Waller discusses why it’s critical to work and lead from “The Gain,” not “The Gap.” She explains the concept of The Gap And The Gain™, one of the foundational concepts of Strategic Coach® that has helped tens of thousands of people improve their relationships with their teams, families, and everyone else. Don’t miss this episode for practical methods to create psychological safety within the team, foster a positive environment, and drive growth within your team.



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Show Notes:



Shift Your Focus To Progress, Not Perfection



* When you measuring progress from where you started (The Gain) rather than against an ideal (The Gap), you celebrate how far you’ve come and focus on what is working.

* Acknowledging The Gain builds confidence and motivation within yourself and your team.

* Remember: Progress, not perfection, is the key to growth.



Cultivate Psychological Safety For Your Team



* Studies (see links below) have shown that top productive and profitable teams share just one thing in common: everyone trusts and respects one another. Researchers refer to this aspect of group culture as “psychological safety.”

* Psychological safety in a team has repeatedly shown to have a bigger impact on the team’s performance than any other factor, including collective intelligence.

* As a leader, your job is to help people stay in The Gain instead of The Gap; otherwise, they are going to play defense, not offense.

* If people are defensive, they’re not taking risks, and if they don’t take risks, your company can’t grow.

* When there is psychological safety, team members can own their mistakes because they are allowed to make them to learn from them.

* Dan Sullivan, co-founder of Strategic Coach, says, “When there’s a problem with a person, 99% of the time it’s not the person; it’s the system.”

* Being an “impact” leader means always measuring progress and looking for improvement ideas to improve results.



Strategies For Staying In The Gain



* Positive Mindset: Use the Strategic Coach online web app WinStreak® to track your top three wins every day and set up three wins for tomorrow.

* Short-Circuit The Amygdala: You can use tools such as The Experience Transformer® to turn negative experiences into valuable learning opportunities without overreacting or placing blame.





* Describe The Circumstance:Begin by objectively describing the situation that did not go as planned, focusing on facts rather than emotions.

* Identify Successes:Acknowledge aspects of the experience that worked well to recognize positive elements amidst challenges.

* List Areas For Improvement:Pinpoint specific aspects that did not contribute to the desired outcome to identify areas for enhancement.

* Brainstorm Solutions:Encourage creative brainstorming to generate ideas for improvement based on the identified challenges.

* Implement A New Approach:Develop a revised plan, incorporating insights gained from the experience to guide future endeavors.





* Encourage Learning:Treat failures as learning opportunities and promote continuous improvement for culture and company growth.



The Strategic Coach P.A.G.E.